Graduate Fashion Week: Six Designers To Have On Your Radar

To celebrate 35 years of shaping British fashion, the charitable Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF) presents its Graduate Fashion Week, which brings more than 30 U.K. and 40 international universities together. A series of new industry partnerships and programmes will follow that help to bridge the gap between education and employment in fashion. The Graduate Fashion Week will commence on the 15th of June until the 18th of June at the Truman Brewery in London.

Founded back in 1991, GFF’s mission was simple. They wanted to unify both domestic and international universities to discover the best emerging talents, and their purpose remains true today. Over the decades, they have supported over 100,000 undergraduate students by giving them industrial insight and necessary connections. Prominent figures helped by the charity include Christopher Bailey MBE (who is now a lifetime patron), Stella McCartney, Hussein Chalayan, Clare Waight Keller, Louise Trotter, Giles Deacon, Matthew Williamson, and Julien MacDonald.

For Graduate Fashion Week 2026, GFF partnered with retailer F&F, who will have their own F&F Digital Innovation Lab, a live talk, and a dedicated catwalk show for final-year collections.

Supported by the PVH Foundation and Dazed, The Fashion Accelerator returns for its third year. Spanning photography, journalism, creative direction and stylistic fields, nine creatives were selected. This year’s cohort includes Brandon Bolland (stylist), Callie Therese Holden (designer), Janey Cribbin (designer), Kemi Danielle Gbadebo (designer), Layal Balubaid (designer), Mia Mazzocchi (journalist), Miao Jiang (designer), Safa Basharat (photographer), and Tarika Kinney (designer). Their work will be displayed at the Innovators of Tomorrow showroom at GFW26, which is open to industry professionals and the general public.

Kemi Gbadebo is a Spanish-Nigerian designer who launched her namesake label, Gbadebo. Having collaborated with brands such as The North Face and Adidas, she was the winner of BBC’s show ‘The Drop’ and launched an exclusive collection with Flannels. Her brand upcycles discarded textiles and educates the consumer with a deeper understanding of consumption and circularity. Sustainability is Gbadebo’s focus, and they promote these practices in the industry and the brands they work with.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Gbadebo.

Featured on Vogue Runway and 1Granary, Miao Jiang is a London-based womenswear brand. Taoist thought and material consciousness exist at the core of the brand’s philosophy. Blending both ancient wisdom and modernity, Jiang focuses on qualities of raw materials so that clothing is shaped by stillness and not by force. She also values sustainability and uses only square cuts to prevent any waste.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Miao Jiang.

London-based womenswear brand, Lay.al, was founded by Layal Balubaid. At just 22 years old, the Saudi designer was named in the 2025 Dazed MENA 100. Having graduated from UCA Epsom, her work draws from cultural references to her Saudi heritage, added with her own unique humour. When designing, she begins with draping and then creative pattern cutting that gives the garments a depth. Lay.al has been featured in Clash, Ssense, and Bricks.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Lay.al.

From Belfast to Mumbai, Irish-born Tarika Kinney draws deeply on both of her ethnicities to establish identity, memory, and emotional connection in her work. She creates wearable art for everyday occasions by exploring craft and materiality. Her brand uses fashion as a storytelling medium to explore personal and collective histories.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Tarika Kinney.

Brandon Bollard is a fashion stylist from London. Having produced campaigns for Nike, Birkenstock, and Dr. Martens and styled for Contributor’s Magazine and Sickly, his work extends across editorial and commercial styling. His work has been awarded Best Costume Design at the Utah Dance Film Festival, the Fashion Styling and Creative Direction Award at Graduate Fashion Week, and recognition from both The British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain and The British Photography Awards.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Brandon Bollard.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Macunia Ugly.